When
Dallas police detective Cami Davis joined the city's vampire unit, she planned
to use the job as a stepping-stone to a better position in the department.

But
she didn't know then what she knows now: there's a silent war raging between
humans and vampires, and the vampires are winning.

So
with the help of a disaffected vampire and an ex-cop addict, Cami is going
undercover, determined to solve a series of recent murders, discover a way to
overthrow the local Sanguinary government, and, in the process, help win the
war for the human race.

But
can she maintain her own humanity in the process? Or will Cami find herself,
along with the rest of the world, pulled under a darkness she cannot oppose?

_____________________________________________

Excerpt

It
hit me, hard, that no matter how I twisted it around in my head, Reese was
going to be more than just an informant to me. I didn't know if I could trust
him, this cowboy-vampire I had been thrown together with. But something about
him sang to me, like a tune just out of hearing, almost recognized—a song of
protection and death. And I wanted to dance to it, almost as much as I wanted
to escape it.

The
department wouldn't force me to stick it out, wouldn't expect me to team up
with a vampire for anything more than the most superficial of connections.

I could walk out at any time.

But
I wouldn't. He'd help us find and stop whoever was killing these women.

That's why I'll stay in this.

"I'll
tell you everything," I said to the vampire snarling at me. "But I'll
need your help."

Reese's
lip dropped back down, covering the fang.

I
was glad—it was easier to contemplate joining forces with him when he wasn't
reminding me that he was one of the monsters.

"Talk,"
he said.

I
shook my head. "Not here," I said, speaking quietly. How good his
hearing might be was only one of the many things I didn't know about vampires.

He
slid up to the bar beside me.

"We
can't leave," he said, equally softly. I had to lean close to hear him.

"Why
not?" I asked.

"Mendoza
all but dared me to Claim you, back there." He didn't look down at me.
"If I don't bleed you at least a little before we go, he'll be
suspicious."

At
his words, the half-healed bite mark Reese had left on my shoulder throbbed
once, sending a hot pulse throughout my entire body.

I
wanted the response to be revulsion.

Almost
everyone who went undercover with the vamps came out addicted to their bite.
The ones who could still string two sentences together, like Garrett, stayed on
the force.

The
others . . .

The
press portrayed us as bumbling and stupid—and maybe we were. Sending detectives
in against humanity's worst nightmare? We were like little kids trying to hold
back the dark with matches, bound to get our fingers burned, and worse, maybe
burn the house down around us.

I
paused and swallowed.

_____________________________________________

About the Author

Margo Bond Collins is the author of urban fantasy, contemporary
romance, and paranormal mysteries. She has published a number of novels,
including Sanguinary, Taming the Country Star, Legally Undead,
Waking Up Dead, and Fairy, Texas.
She lives in Texas with her husband, their daughter, and several spoiled pets.
Although writing fiction is her first love, she also teaches college-level
English courses online. She enjoys reading romance and paranormal fiction of
any genre and spends
most of her free time daydreaming about heroes, monsters, cowboys, and
villains, and the strong women who love them—and sometimes fight them.